


Sophie and Parker Bond--The Dating Job

by crayonbreakygal



Category: Leverage
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Romance, Schmoop
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-17
Updated: 2018-01-17
Packaged: 2019-03-05 23:09:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,474
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13398240
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crayonbreakygal/pseuds/crayonbreakygal
Summary: Parker and Sophie discuss why they actually care about their idiot significant others. Takes place season four.





	Sophie and Parker Bond--The Dating Job

**Author's Note:**

> Wow, Sophie and Parker really do need to bond something fierce. They have to deal with the exasperating guys and their antics. Luckily Eliot has their backs.

Sophie and Parker Bond--The Dating Job

Takes place after The Boys Night Out Job and The Girls Night Out Job, and The Lonely Hearts Job, season four.

“He’s, well, nice.”

“Nice?  What are you implying?”

“Just look at him.”

Parker was looking at Shelly only yesterday. She really didn’t get it.

“Soph, couldn’t he kill you with just his little finger?”

“I’m not saying that I’d do anything. Just nice to look at.”

“Oh, oh, I get it. It’s one of those things.”

Parker looked up from her coffee. Her mocha espresso coffee, the thing that Hardison told her not to get. She deserved a huge amount of chocolate after what had happened the day before.  Saving Peggy, helping out someone she didn’t even know (the Venezuelan people), had made for a tough night.

“Parker, you should appreciate the male form in all its splendor.”

“Ok, so he has a jaw. Still don’t get it.”

“Look.  What do you see when you look at Hardison?”

Parker thought about the last time she saw him, which was a few hours ago.  He was wearing one of those silly t-shirts he so loved, typing away at his favorite keyboard, Nate looking over his shoulder as he researched their next client.  The aroma of orange soda always clung to his clothes. He sometimes wore sweaters and even a scarf or a beanie. 

“Still not getting it.”

“What do you find attractive about Hardison?”

Attractive?  Sure, she thought he was adorable, or was that the chocolate talking?  He was tall, muscular, smiled all the time, was a bit of a goober.  He loved all things Star Wars and his online games. 

“He’s Hardison.”

“Yes, he most certainly is. His physical attributes. Is it that he’s tall or his eyes or his smile?”

“All of the above,” Parker answered quickly.

“Ok, what did you find attractive about that other guy, the one who you caught trying to steal?”

Geez, Sophie asked hard questions.  Mattingly was smooth, Parker thought.  Seemed sophisticated, knew what he was doing.  Except Parker had caught him in the act. Most people would not have. Peggy would have drooled over him if he’d stayed.  There. Maybe she should ask Peggy.

“I dunno. He was tall. He was a decent thief, although I had his number immediately.”

“That’s because it takes one to know one.”

How could she describe what she found attractive in a mate?  Just as she did yesterday, it was best to ask for advice. And the expert was sitting across from her.

“What do you find attractive about Nate?”

Turning the tables always made them sputter.  Sophie eyed her, mouth open like she was going to say something. Her eyes were wider than normal, body posture a bit defensive. Only with her team would Sophie drop her guard, if just a little.  Parker’s question threw her game off.

“I think we were discussing your views.”

“No, no, no, no.  Isn’t this girl talk? Aren’t we supposed to have girl talks? Besides, I need to practice just in case Peggy calls me. She and Hurley seemed to hit it off apparently.”

Sophie ran a hand through her perfectly coiffed hair, either because she was stalling about discussing Nate or she was wondering why on earth Peggy would be interested in Hurley. 

“Do I have to answer?”

“If you want me to answer…”

“Alright, alright.  I guess I’m a glutton for punishment.”

“Oh, do you mean you’re into, you know, punishment?”

“Parker? Let’s just stick to something a little more PG in the coffee shop.”

Parker put her chin in her hand, waiting for the grifter to either not answer and change the subject, or outright lie to her about her supposed relationship with the brains of their little group.

“I’ve known Nate for a long time.”

“Yeah, yeah. Run, chase, yada, yada.  He flirts with you, you flirt with him. I can see why he flirts with you because you’re beautiful.”

Sophie’s face lit up at Parker’s compliment. See, Parker thought. She was learning how to put people at ease.  Plus, it was true. Sometimes Parker felt jealous of how much attention the guys paid to Sophie  because of her looks.  Her confidence, the way she held herself and was always the center of attention almost everywhere she went.  Parker’s skills tilted toward not being noticed so that she could do her job. It’s just every once in a while, it would be nice to be noticed.

“I mean, the guys, they do things for you. I’m just the little sister or the big sister. You’re the mom.”

Sophie glared at her for a moment, then shook her head like she agreed.

“Well, you all sometimes act like children.”

Parker snorted in response.

“I see how Eliot looks at you. Hardison even sometimes does, look at you.  Nate can’t seem to take his eyes off of you.”

“Parker, are you jealous?”

“Me?  Nah.”

Maybe she was. She wanted one person to look at her. It didn’t matter who, the gender, or why.  She wanted someone to belong to just her and her only.

“Parker, Hardison cares about you. You may not notice, but he only has eyes for you.”

“Just like Nate?”

“It’s complicated.”

“You’re telling me.”

Sophie’s hand tightened around her coffee mug. Her breathing sped up and there was a slight flush to her face and chest. Parker wondered if she should explain to Sophie that she has a tell?

“He’s maddening at times.”

“Yeah, well, that smirk’ll do that to you.”

Sophie almost spit out her coffee, then laughed out loud at Parker’s statement.

“He used to smirk at me from across the room when he was chasing me, like he knew the exact move I was going to make next.  I wanted to slap him silly so many times.  I stayed just far enough ahead of him to make it interesting.”

“Hardison is the exact opposite.”

“What do you mean?”

“He’s open, trustworthy.  Cares about me just the way I am. Is very patient with me when most guys would have bolted.”

“Listen, Parker.  Nate, Eliot, they both love you just the way you are. Neither one of them are big with the words. And they’ll never bolt on you.”

“I know. But they don’t want pretzels. And I don’t want pretzels. With them.”

“Pretzels?” Sophie paused for a moment. “Oh, pretzels.”

She smiled back at Parker. “Does Nate want pretzels?”

Sophie had chosen that moment to take a sip of her coffee and almost choked.

“Oops.”

“No, it’s alright. How did this talk go from Eliot’s buddy to the frustrating men in our lives?”

“I dunno. Have you noticed that the crazier Nate gets, the crazier his hair is?”

Sophie smiled back at the thief.  “I think he does it for effect.”

“He’s a mad scientist.”

Both laughed at Parker’s joke, only it was most likely true. Nate was comparable to a mad scientist sometimes.

“Hardison is like a cup of hot chocolate with all those little marshmallows on top.  Comforting, but yummy to the last drop.”

“Oh, really. Then Nate is like that Irish whisky he drinks.”

“So comforting in a bitter, really drunk and hung over the next day way?”

“No, Parker,” Sophie teased.  “A good whisky is smooth, sometimes smokey.  It makes you feel good down to your toes, just don’t drink too much. Don’t get lost in his eyes, listening to that purr his voice gets when he…”

Now that Parker was feeling a little more relaxed, she appreciated why Sophie was making her talk about her feelings.  She’d have to do the same thing with Hardison sooner than later.  Helping find the right words would go a long way.

“I like Hardison’s smile. There. See? I can find the right words when I want to. He makes me feel safe. And he’s goofy.  I can’t deal with someone who’s too serious or grumpy.”

Sophie pulled back a little, face dropping suddenly.

“I know. Nate can be grumpy at times. He’s way too serious and never goofy. I do know one thing though.”

“What’s that Parker?”

“Every time you walk into a room, he only has eyes for you.”

 

Had they realized they still had their comms in?  No way either one of them would make that mistake. It was on purpose, at least on Sophie’s part.  Nate’s hand literally shook at he poured his next drink. The two would be back soon from their coffee run, aka girl talk.

Nate watched as Hardison fidgeted at his spot, hands crossing and uncrossing in front of him as he read the data on the screens directly in front of him. So he was sneaky too and had listened in on the conversation.

Eliot came in not two seconds later, laden down with bags of groceries for their team dinner.  The small smile on his face was glaring to Nate.  He also must have listened in on the conversation.

Nate spun the now empty tumbler on the dining room table, eyes cast down on the file spread before him.  Hardison kept flipping through the screens. Nate knew he wasn’t absorbing any of the information. This wasn’t the way Hardison normally worked.

Eliot rolled his eyes and slammed his hands down on the table right in front of Nate, making Hardison turn to look at what was up.

“The two of you either need to get your shit together or the both of them are gonna walk. I swear I live in a soap opera. Come on, man.  Just pull it together.  They either left the comms in on purpose or maybe thought you wouldn’t listen. Either way, now you know.”

Nate’s comm sat mere inches away. He had immediately pulled it out of his ear after hearing what Sophie had to say about him.

“It’s just, we, I don’t do, you know, emotions. I mean, pretzels. This is serious. I have no idea what I’m doing.”

And here Nate thought he was the adult. He had no clue what he was doing either.

“Pretzels?” Eliot asked.

“Hey, not my words.”

“Get your shit together, both of you. Dammit, the two of you have the two best, smartest, most gorgeous women in the universe. And you’re acting like fools.”

Maybe Nate should be a bit jealous of Eliot at that moment in time, but he had a point.

“Don’t make me come over there, Eliot.” Hardison suddenly stood up, possibly to use his height to his advantage.

“We get it,” Nate tried to explain to Eliot.

“No, you don’t got it.  Come on, Nate. You’ve been dancing around Sophie, for what, almost fifteen years. Granted there was Maggie and I would have punched you if you had cheated on her.”

Nate almost growled back at Eliot. There seemed to be a bit of softness when Eliot said his ex-wife’s name.

“Yeah, Mr. Catholic, I’m so repressed I can’t even make a move on a woman cheat?”

Now Nate did growl, if just a little, at Hardison’s assessment.

“Yeah, Hardison. I’m so cool I play online games for fun.  You’re lucky Parker likes nerds.”

“Geek.  I’m a geek. There’s a difference, you know.”

Nate rolled his eyes at the other two’s antics. 

“I’m not even gonna explain to you the difference. I work out, ok?”

“Still can’t take a punch. And dogs?”

“Hey, hey. They were big dogs.  I’d like to see you run from them. They were vicious.”

“Which is why when I came to rescue you, they licked my hand.”

“Dogs just don’t like me.”

“Probably because you smell like orange soda.”

“Do you have a point, Eliot?” Nate interrupted, knowing that if he didn’t, the two of them would keep going until there was wrestling involved.

“Your girlfriend…,” Eliot started.

Nate would never use that word for Sophie. She wasn’t his girlfriend. She was his, whatever she was.

“Your girlfriend is feeling neglected.  It’s not all wham bam thank you ma’am.”

“Oh, so we gotta go there.  Y’all nasty.  It’s all I gotta say.”

Eliot pointed to Hardison.  “And you have to take it down a notch, Hardison. Find something that Parker likes to do instead of the rock ‘em, sock ‘em robots thing.”

“I’ll have you know it’s art.”

“It’s robots. Fighting.”

“I mean, I could take her out to dinner,” Nate mumbled.

Eliot was probably right.  Sophie needed to be wooed.  Their lifestyle made it more difficult. He needed to try.

“It’s called a date,” Eliot reminded him.

“It’s not all sexy times. If I have to break out the Lysol one more time, I swear,” Hardison complained.

“And you could at least hold her hand, Hardison. She won’t bite. Remember, take the initiative.  Even Shelly thought she was hot.”

“Shelly, Shelly. I’m gonna bust his ass the next time I see him. He’s not gonna look at my girl that way.”

Eliot smirked Hardison’s way, knowing he’d gotten the man going.

“Now you’re going to tell me Shelly said the same thing about Sophie?”

“Nah. He thought she was kinda scary. Me, on the other hand…”

Nate threw his leftover donut at Eliot, missing by a mile.

 

“The roses. They’re beautiful,” Sophie commented as she smelled them once more.

“Yeah. Beautiful.”

“Oh my, you looked like a deer caught in the headlights on that one.”

“So you know?”

“Oh darling, your romantic gestures are subtle. This is not subtle.”

Nate moved closer to Sophie, taking her hand in his.

“Is this subtle?” Nate asked as he pulled Sophie’s body flush with his.

“Is this going to become a thing, dear?”

“What? The fact that no one’s around. It’s quiet, the lights are down low.”

“The fact that your hand is slowly working my dress up and over my hips.”

Sophie sighed as his mouth found her pulse point.

“Subtle as an anvil, Nate.”

She wouldn’t have him any other way.

 

“Ok, so, you see.  I like pretzels, very much. I know you do too, but whatever you want to eat is fine with me.”

Parker giggled, actually giggled at his analogy.

“Eliot tell you to be more assertive?”

“He may have given just a touch of advice. Just a touch.”

Parker slowly worked her way over to Hardison where he was sitting on the roof of the building. He took her hand in his.

“See, nice and slow,” Hardison crooned.

“I don’t want nice and slow. I want Hardison.”

Hardison’s brain must have misfired at least five times as Parker kissed and kissed him.

“That was more like chocolate,” Parker commented. “I can’t seem to get enough of it.”

“Just as long as you don’t get all …”

“What?  Just because chocolate makes me hyper.”

Instead of going on, Hardison decided to shut his mouth and enjoy what she was doing to him.


End file.
